A fascinating exploration of 70 years of contemporary Romanian music for clarinet and piano.

In the pieces presented here, four composers of different generations suggest a panorama of modern Romanian music in the last 70 years. The similarities and differences in style and expressive techniques do not always correlate with the time of their composition. In particular, the charming, specifically Romanian variety of impressionism in Martian Negrea's Suite contrasts radically with its contemporary, the abstract, incisive, ironic Sonata by Constantin Silvestri. The modernity of these pieces is deeply grounded in their original use of Romanian oral musical traditions from folk and Byzantine sources, of non-European traditions, and of representative 20th century musical landmarks such as Debussy, Stravinsky and Berg. The duo of Ray Jackendoff and Valentina Sandu-Dediu was founded in Berlin in 2000, where they were both Fellows at the Center for Advanced Study. What began as casual get-togethers to read chamber music quickly developed into intense and enthusiastic rehearsals. Valentina's husband, composer Dan Dediu started quietly dropping into their mailboxes, a few pages at a time, a new piece written for them. Soon plans were afoot for a number of concerts, and not long afterward, for the present recording, which offers first performances on CD of works by composers little known in the West.